Process for the treatment of sewage and the like.



. zroim corn summarising or ennon, ENGLAND, nssrenon. TOSEDWARD,.armrtmm E ORT A HUR, G -A3159, CANADA No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN Corn. BUTTER- FIELD, a subject of theKing ofGreat Britain, residing at 5 Bloomfield Place, New Bond street, London,England, have invented a new and useful Improved Process for theTreatment of Sewage and the like, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates toa process for the treatment of sewage andsimilar organic matter whereby the decomposing organic matter isrendered innocuous and the greater part of the consituents of the sewageor the like is recovered in commercially valuable forms.

According to this invention I spray the sewage sludge that comes fromthe filter presses or the other matter to be treated with a smallquantity (say 0.5 to 4%) of petroleum or the like hydrocarbons, and Ithen subject the sludge or other matter to destructive distillation inretorts with exclusion of air at a low temperature (500 to 900 Apercentage of 50to 75 of water in the press cakes is not deleterious,but they should be as dry as can conveniently be arranged. As the heatrises the chemical reactions set up inside the retort give rise to adistillate consisting of oils, fats and ammonia compounds which may bevseparated and treated by well known means and any non-condensable gas isbrought back and burnt under the retort. By this distillation fattyacids are obtained and may be recovered as condensed products. By reasonof the petroleum vapor the fatty acids which are present as calcicstearate, palmitate and oleate are preserved from destruction and arecarried over into the ammoniacal liquor of the distillate, beingpartially saponified and converted into ammonia salts by the ammonia'in' the retort. From the ammoniacal liquor the fatty bodies arerecovered by any known means. At the temperatures employed possibly someof the fatty matter is subjected to change, and probably some reactionsbetween the steam from the contained water and the vapors fromthe-petroleum, as well as some of the gases from the decomposing organicmatter, form ea'silyvolatile or gaseous hydrocarbons which aresubsequently carried back to be burnt under the still. The steam formedprobably aids 1n breaking up i rnocnss FOR. THE 'rnnarlvrnlvror SEWAGEAND 'JlHE LIKE.

the fat's: present intofatty acids and glyceryl. The acids may pass overlargely unchanged at the temperatures here indicated;

Specification of Letters Patent. l fatentg d'peg. 2 95 19 14 Applicationfiled March 24, 1913. Serial No. 756,383.

changed into the calcic salts mentioned.

The heat to which these salts-are subjected is sufiicient to break themup, and the fatty acids as such, pass over forthe mostpart unchanged,partly because of the petroleum vapors and partly because of the watervaporsfithe cumulative pressure of both vapors at the temperaturesindicated being considerable. Probably any uncombined fat under'theconditions present unites with the steam and the petroleum to form'volatile or gaseous hydrocarbons which are carried away to be burnedunder the still, the reaction being probably somewhat analogous to thenatural formations of mineral hydrocarbons. When this first distillationis completed at the low temperature indicated, the matter in the retortis moved forward and dropped into another retort which is heated to atemperature ofapproximately 1000 to 1200 F. Any volatile matter notremovedat the lower temperature i's now carried off and all organicmatteras suchis completely destroyed. Any usuable vapors may, of

. course, be condensed or burned. Steam and air are blown into theretort, the steamis partially decomposed, its hydrogen combining withthe nitrogenin the; sewage matter to form ammonia whileitsoxygencombines with some of the carbon to form carbon tort a-solid residuecontaininglime, silicious matters, animal charcoal, PhOSPhOIlC' acid,

monoxid' which supplies the heat necessary for the reaction. After-thecompletion'of this second heating there is left in the reetc, thesesubstances being either free orin combination, and this residue maybeused for-theprecipitation ofa fresh portion of raw sewage. By suchrepeated usethe residue becomesrich in phosphoric acid and maybeultimately used asmanure;

What I claim is- 1". A process'for thetrea'tment' of organic refuseyielding oils, fats and ammonia compounds, which consists in subjectingsaid refuse while in a dry condition to deerate oils and to carry overinto tlie distillate the fatty acids in a partially saponified conditionin the form of ammonia salts.

8. A process for the treatment of organic refuse yielding oils, fats andammonia compounds, which consists in adding to said refuse a smallpercentage of petroleum and subjecting such refuse while in a drycondition to destructive distillation with exclusion of air at atemperature suflicient to liberate oils and to carry over into thedistillate the fatty acids in a partially saponified condition in theform of ammonia salts,

, and then heating the residue of this treatment at a much highertemperature to drive off the remaining noxious gases and produce aresiduum suitable for use as a precipitating agent and as a manure.

4:. A process of treating organic refuse yielding oils, fats and ammoniacompounds,

which consists in adding a small per cent. of petroleum to it and insubjecting the refuse thus treated to destructive distillation withexclusion of air at a temperature sufficient to liberate oils and tocarryover into the distillate the fatty acids in a partiallysaponified.condition in the form of ammonia salts, then heating the residuum at ahigher temperature to drive off the remaining noxious gases and toproduce a residuum suitable for use as a precipitating agent and as amanure, steam being blown in during the treatment to supply hydrogen tocombine with the nitrogen in the refuse to form ammonia, and oxygen tocombine with the carbon present to form carbon monoxid.

5. A process for the treatment of organic refuse yielding oils, fats andammonia compounds, which consists in subjecting said refuse while in adry condition to destructive distillation with exclusion of air at atemperature of from 500 to 900 F to liberate oils and to carry over intothe distillate the fatty acids in a partially saponified condition inthe form of ammonia salts, and subsequently heating the residuum at atemperature of from l000 to 1200 F. to produce a residuum suitable foruse as a precipitatmg agent and as a manure. 6. A process for thetreatment of organic refuse which consists in adding to it petroduringthe said subsequent heating.

7. A process for the treatment of organic refuse which consists inadding to it petroleum, distilling off with exclusion of air and at atemperature of from 500 to 900 F. gases, fats and-oils, subsequentlyheating it at a temperature of from 1000 to 1200 F., and blowing insteam during such subsequent heating.

8. A process for treating refuse yielding oils, fats and ammoniacompounds, which consists in treating said refuse with a small quantity(5% to 4%) of petroleum, subjecting such refuse thus treated while in adry condition to destructive distillation at a temperature of from 500to 900 F. to liberate oils and to carry over into the distillate thefatty acids in a partially, saponified condition in the form of ammoniasalts, and in recovering from the distillate the oils, ammonia and fattybodies contained therein.

9. A process for treating refuse to recover valuable constituentsthereof which consists in. charging said refuse with a hydrocarbon,subjecting the mass under pressure to a temperature between 500 F. and900 F., collecting and condensing the vapors and recovering from thedistillate fatty acids, subjecting the residuum to distillation at ahigher temperature and repeatedly using the residuum from this seconddistillation as a precipitating agent in treating raw sewage until itbecomes richly charged with phosphoric acid.

10. A process for treating refuse to re- I cover its valuableconstituents which consists in charging such refuse with a hydrocarbon,subjecting the charged mass to distillation at a comparatively hightemperature, after the completion of this distillation, raising thetemperature to 1000 F. or more, until volatile matter has been drivenoff and repeatedly using the residuum in the retort as a precipitant forfresh charges until such residuum becomes richly charged withnon-volatile ingredients of the refuse.

O. J. WORTH, TRACY LAY.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Eatents, Washington, D. G.

